Somehow this year has gone by crazy quick, and we’re already into April.

For the last year, I’ve written a “what I earned and learned” post after every quarter, and it’s a great way for me to personally reflect and set some intentions for the next quarter.

Even if you don’t have a newsletter, I’d encourage you to sit down for an hour and write up your learnings, take a look at your income sources, and decide what you want to focus on next quarter.

Just having things written down helps a ton.

This Q1 has felt like a slow ramp up to the year. I went back to California for the holidays and spent a month avoiding the NY winter weather. Then, I went to London for two weeks, followed by Mexico City for three.

At the time of writing this, I’m still not back in my apartment (lol), but I am finally back in NYC. And honestly? I’m designing the lifestyle I have always dreamed of.

I love living and working in a new city. It opens you up to experiences you never realized were possible, but it does take time to find your footing. While I try and establish a normal routine whenever I travel to a new place, I still value having my home base.

Part of the beauty of having a portfolio career is the ability to change up your income sources. I used to think that if I was getting the majority of my income from what I was doing before (product marketing in tech), that I was failing or falling behind.

But I’m super grateful for my product marketing skills and my network. It’s providing me anchor income, so I can avoid the panic of constantly needing clients or new projects.

The first two workshops I ever did were solo. I put them on Luma, announced on LinkedIn, and I got pretty good attendance.

But this year, I wanted to see how I could increase my impact, without increasing my workload. And without any promotion on my end, I got 50+ signups and a client who signed up for one of my offers through Maven.

I’d say this experiment was a success 🙂

When I was in elementary school, I started “The Blackburn Times”, a newspaper that I created on Microsoft Word with my family’s news. In high school, I chose journalism as my elective.

Naturally, it makes sense that I chose writing a newsletter as my medium. I recently started sharing more stories of women who are choosing alternative paths, and it’s been a fun outlet for me. I hope you’ve gotten something from them, too.

Q1 was a slow ramp up but luckily I was anticipating that. Last January, I made a whopping $358.75, so I was prepared for anything.

In December, I finally started sharing that I was taking on 1:1 clients, which meant by January I officially started with three 1:1 clients at an introductory founding rate.

I created a landing page for the Reimagine 1:1 program in January and have been increasing my rate as I’m working on obtaining my full coaching certification from iPEC.

I hosted a workshop, From Corporate to Creator, and while 44 people signed up, only a handful showed up live. I figured it was that people were tired of being on Zoom and over winter.

For that reason, I decided to pause launching the 2nd cohort of Just Start, a place where we design and implement career experiments together. I might do this again, but only if I receive enough interest!

February was a bit of a crazy month, personally. I decided to get an Airbnb Cohost for my Airbnb as I’m plotting a move to London in the fall. I slowly started researching Visa options but get easily overwhelmed, so if you or someone you know has moved to London from the US, I’d love to connect.

On the business side, it was nice having a stable source of income as I officially started working with Noon as a fractional marketer (they just came out of stealth last week)!

March is when I decided to host two workshops with Maven. There are currently 90+ people (!) signed up for the one on Wednesday about personal branding for multi-passionate people.

I also launched a new offer, a Marketing Blueprint, where we spend an hour together, and I share back my recommendations for areas of marketing focus and messaging refinements.

Q1 has already had so many learnings and ups and downs. I’m looking forward to Q2 (Spring!) and what it will bring both personally and professionally.

What did you earn and learn in Q1?

Integrating back into NYC life…

Personal Branding for Multi-Passionate People | Wed, April 8
My next workshop on personal branding is this Wednesday. You’ll walk away with a framework for threading your multiple passions together into a cohesive message, plus some real-life examples of multi-passionates’ personal brands. RSVP here >

San Francisco Coffee Meetup | Fri, May 1
I’m coming to San Francisco in a few weeks, and I’d love to meet up with anyone who is interested in grabbing coffee. RSVP here >

Unblock Strategy Sprint
Get 60 minutes of strategic support on Zoom, personalized strengths mapping with an Enneagram assessment, and 2 weeks of async support to help unblock your goals and come up with a concrete action plan.

Reimagine 1:1 Coaching - 2 spots left for April
Reimagine is a highly personalized 1:1 coaching program for multi-passionate women ready to build their portfolio career. Book a free career strategy call with me to learn more.